Tag: background for product photography

Product Photography on a Small Business Budget

Product Photography on a Small Business Budget

Posted on by Fix The Retouch

The standard of your brand is judged by the quality of the images you portray to the audience. Often misunderstood by many small business holders is that it will require an expensive setup for achieving an industry-standard photoshoot. But that’s not true. There are always alternatives to expensive equipment that could be utilized to achieve professional-looking product photoshoots. In addition to that photo editing techniques could be used to further enhance the images.

We have written this article as a guide to help small businesses achieve professional product photography on a budget. Hopefully this article will help you generate more sales for your business.

Low Budget Product Photography Setup

You could use a smartphone or a point & shoot camera, but buying a DSLR won’t add up much cost. You will be able to find decent DSLRs at very cheap prices. Smartphone cameras are great but the only reason you should avoid it is because of their controllability. Mobile cameras are very limited in terms of how you can take photos whereas a professional camera will allow you to shoot completely in manual.

Select a Proper Camera

Choose either a DSLR or a Mirrorless. The functionality of both are the same the difference is in its build. If you are getting a mirrorless, purchase extra batteries with it. The main benefit of these cameras is that they are more compact than DSLR.

Lens for Product Photography

To save more money you could definitely use the kit lenses provided to you while purchasing the camera. It will take decent shots. But to be more professional try buying separate lenses.
Telephoto Zoom lenses and Prime lenses are a popular choice for product photography. Avoid using a wide-angle lens it can distort the shape of your product. A wide-angle lens is suitable for something like landscape or wildlife photography.

Invest on a Tripod

Tripods are something beginners tend to avoid but professionals recommend to use. Tripods can be found at very cheap prices. It won’t add much to your cost but will produce really outstanding value to the photoshoot.

Instead of manually adjusting the height of the camera angle by using a tripod you can set a fixed height and shooting angle. This ensures visual consistency throughout the shoot. The camera also tends to shake if you are holding it in your hands. A tripod will ensure that the camera stays steady and avoid any kind of blurriness from the photo.

White Background for Product Photography

White backgrounds are an industry-standard option for product photography. And there are a lot of reasons for it. White background creates consistency. It helps to put the product into focus and if done properly can also help to promote brand awareness.

Use lightbox

You can either purchase a lightbox from sites like Amazon or make one yourself. Lightboxes are very cheap, so instead of making it, buying one will be more appropriate. It will be stable and properly built. But if you are into DIY then you can take a cardboard box and cut off three sides leaving about a 1-inch border. Then use white paper for achieving proper white background.

Paper or Cloth Sweep

Using a paper or cloth sweep will be the cheapest option. With the help of some editing along with it, you can achieve results that look exactly the same as if you’ve done in a studio.

You can place a table against a wall and tape the sweep on the wall. Make sure the sweep falls seamlessly, there shouldn’t be any creases, otherwise, it would show up in the photo.

Lighting Setup for Product Photography

Photos won’t look professional if the lighting is not even. Your prime focus should be to make sure that the lights are evenly lit across the product. The benefit of this is that it captures the accurate colors of the product.

Types of Lighting

There are two main types of lighting. That is Artificial Lighting and Natural lighting. If you intend to sell products on sites like Amazon then avoid natural lighting. You can definitely make use of natural light, but the problem is that you can’t control its flow. There will be uneven shades of light and shadow. It also tends to change the colors. So using artificial lights will be preferable.

Choosing the proper light setup

The two popular lighting systems are continuous lighting and studio strobe lighting. It is best to use continuous lighting if you are new to photography, whereas, for professionals, a studio strobe might be a good choice.

The learning curve for continuous lighting is very simple. As its name suggests, it illuminates a consistent continuous light into the frame. So, photographers can visualize exactly how the output will be. Lights can be exactly adjusted to output the desired level of light intensity.

The three major types of continuous lights are fluorescent, tungsten and LED. Fluorescent bulbs do not overheat so these are easily found in studio lighting setups.

In general, studio strobes are mostly used by professionals, due to its complexity of use. And it is also quite expensive than continuous lighting. So for beginners it is recommended to use continuous lighting setups.

Getting inspiration from others

Looking at other people’s work can possibly give you interesting ideas that you might never have thought of before.

Getting inspiration is very easy. Just look for your topic online and you will be greeted with a plethora of useful ideas to try out. If you can, it would be best to talk to someone who is already in this profession. Try to learn a few useful tips and get suggestions that would be beneficial for you.

Editing your photos

Editing is the last and final step before finally using photos commercially. Doesn’t matter how carefully the photo is taken, it won’t be perfect. You will need at least some sort of editing to make your picture look perfect.

Start off by adjusting the exposure and distortion of the picture. Then depending on the complexity of the image more adjustments might be required. Most probably you will need a white background if you want to sell your products on sites like Amazon. To save costs most small businesses outsource their photos. It saves both time and money that would be needed to manage and hire an in-house design team. We offer background removal service you can get bulk service packages at a cheap price.

Conclusion

Product photography doesn’t need to be expensive. It used to be the case that you would require expensive cameras and set up for doing professional photography. But now, thanks to the rising demand, the prices have gone down a lot. And always remember to plan before the shoot regarding the management and equipment setup to avoid any sort of inconvenience. But it will take time and practice to expertise in product photography.

Perfect background for product photography

Perfect background for product photography

Posted on by Fix The Retouch

A good consistent product photo increases the chance of the products being sold. Your sales, growth, and profitability will depend on how alluring and eye-catching the product photos look.

According to multiple sources, product images plays a crucial role in the purchasing decision of the customers. They tend to prioritize images over product information, reviews, and ratings.

White background is preferred by most eCommerce platforms for having a consistent and clean look. White background also makes the product and the brand look more premium and conveys a sense of trust between the consumer and the retailer.

Colored backgrounds are also becoming popular nowadays, due to popular brands such as Zara. They have managed to create a cohesive and professional-looking product photoshoot using actual models and solid-colored backgrounds.

In this article, we’ll be discussing about the importance of product photography backgrounds and also how using different types of decorated or colored backgrounds can also be useful.

Product photography background


White background product photography

Most products you will see on Amazon has a white background. In fact, product photos need to have a pure white background of RGB (255, 255, 255) in order to be listed for sale on the site.

A white background makes the image feel less distracting and keeps the focus wholly on the product. It makes products look clean and polished. Colors remain intact unless manipulated in post-processing or any kind of filtering used while doing the photo shoot. Another advantage of having a white background is that it tends to make the file size smaller, which helps to improve the loading time of the website.

Consistency encourages professionalism; it can be achieved using a solid white background and properly positioning each product into the frame at a consistent angle. By having uniformity, customers can easily recognize your products and rely on your brand for buying quality products.

White background photoshoots can also save you money. You can simply buy white paper or cloth sweep, that’s extremely cheap to buy and can be easily replaced or thrown away for a new one if it gets dirty. Lightbox is also another cheap option and preferred by many professional product photographers. It is easy to set up and due to its small size, it can be placed wherever you prefer.

Using solid color backgrounds

Along with white and neutral backgrounds; sometimes mixing solid colors can add a unique exquisite feel to the overall look of the image.

Although it can be useful, most sellers tend to shy away from using solid backgrounds. The reason being is that solid color sometimes creates confusion. It can possibly be avoided by using a colored background on a solid black or white product.

Neutral backgrounds for product photography

Using off-white, neutral gray, or beige are excellent alternatives if you want to add aesthetics while maintaining the minimal and professional look that a pure white background might give you.

But keep in mind on what product photos you are shooting; if it’s a small item then it might or might not look good depending on what the product is. Usually, clothes look good in different neutral backgrounds.

Black Backgrounds for product photography

Some companies often use black backgrounds to showcase their products. Black conveys the feeling of luxury and elegance. Typically, products such as jewelry, alcohol, and cosmetics use it to add an aesthetic and modern look.

Glossy black backgrounds are also commonly used to add dramatic reflections to products. Usually, bottles and packaging use such backdrops.

Using patterns as a background

You may see beauty and minimal furniture products using patterned backgrounds. It adds a classy and sleek look to the products and helps to make the brand more recognizable.

You can use custom patterns to increase creativity, uniqueness, and boost brand awareness of the company. Using subtle patterns are recommended unless you know what you are doing. Overdoing patterns may create unnecessary confusion and clutter on your product photos.

Wooden backgrounds for product photography

Wooden backgrounds are an excellent choice for shooting items such as cookware or kitchenware. It tends to produce a rustic and homey appearance.

Wooden backgrounds are also a cheap option, as these can be found almost anywhere. Possibly you might have wooden furniture that you can use or if not; go out and find wooden structures that can be used for shooting.

These types of backdrops can make very appealing and creative effects. Sometimes retailers selling fruits can be seen using such backgrounds.

Using Bokeh for product backgrounds

The bokeh effect can be useful for adding focus wholly on the product itself. You can be very intentional and highlight specific parts of the product to make it more appealing.

Backgrounds usually don’t matter for bokeh photoshoot. It will be always blurry. But if you have any specific intentions, then you can adjust the blur effect and add some background to the photo. You can usually see this effect being used on products that are worn by actual models. It is also often used for luxury products like perfume, jewelry, watches, diamond wearables, etc.

Save money by outsourcing

Image editing is an essential process of any kind of photography. It can make products look appealing and increase its chances of being sold.

All of the points mentioned above can sometimes be costly depending on your budget. Instead, by outsourcing it, you can achieve almost any effect you want at a very reasonable price. All you need to do is, make sure the photos are properly lit and detailed; the background can be added as per your requirement. See our pricing.

You can make small retouching adjustments or can completely overhaul the image as you like. Multiple images can be combined to make one single group of products. We can also fulfill your bulk editing needs. Feel free to contact us for any further queries.

Conclusion

Few factors need to be taken care of when choosing the right background. You need to think about the company, their intention for the product shoot, and what the audience wants. Before starting your shoot, take some sample shots and prepare yourself on how to approach the task. Also, look for inspiration from other people’s work; see how they have done the task similar to what you are doing. Try out with different backgrounds and see what suits better with the products. Keep in mind to be consistent with the styling and angle of photoshoots.